When the cold southerly blows strong across Dunedin, Swami
Hansa, in shorts, T-shirt and sandals, celebrates his
investment in wind power.
It is a fact, he says, that every time the windspeed doubles,
the power output from his wind turbine quadruples.
A good stiff breeze makes the needles of his volt meters
jump; his batteries get a top-up and his hot water gets a
boost.
Whatever electricity is left over after that surges through
his antique oil heaters. And if the wind does not blow, then
solar panels keep his house alive with electricity.
"Sometimes I've got so much power I don't know what to do
with it," Hansa laughs.
Hansa is something of an alternative energy guru perched high
on a hill overlooking Harbour Cone on the Otago Peninsula.
His conversion to an "off-the-grid" lifestyle began 20 years
ago when he bought the rural property and was quoted $39,000
to be connected to the power line at the bottom of the
valley.
He admits that capturing his own wind and solar energy has
not come cheap, although he is a little vague on the question
of the actual cost of his energy "experiments".
He has two banks of solar panels, two wind turbines, a
roof-mounted solar hot water system and a complex array of
controllers, converters, fuse boxes, gauges, batteries and
cables.
Modern solar panels are expensive, he says, although a lot
more efficient than those he installed 15 years ago.
Wind turbines are also expensive to buy and tend to "fly to
bits" after a time.
The wind turbine he inherited soon succumbed to the violent
gusts his hilltop home is exposed to - up to 170kph - and its
replacement, on top of a 12m steel pipe tower, also caused
endless trouble.
"There are so many pressures on the turbine and so many
things can go wrong unless it's well constructed."
But, finally, Hansa believes he has found the answer. He flew
to the Falkland Islands specially to investigate a
Scottish-made turbine in use by about 80 property owners
there.
The Proven Energy turbine cost him almost $20,000 but has
features he believes make it ideal for the climate extremes
of Dunedin.
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